On Gardening Failures
Jul 7th, 2008 by Laura
I mentioned last night that maybe I should be talking about failures so far as well as successes. Well, okay, here goes.
Most notable was the ENTIRE TRAY of seedlings that I had to toss because they got super weirdly leggy. The tray included Brussels sprouts, broccoli and dill and I’m still not sure what happened.
Then there’s the fact that I’m on my third round of basil starts from seed. And I’m not sure that these are going to make it either. I kill my basil every year. Sometimes it gets too wet, others too dry, and sometimes too hot. Who knows why exactly, but it always croaks. I’m vaguely optimistic that we might still get some this year, but I’m not holding my breath.
We’ve lost a total of about 25 lettuce starts to the heat. The carrots have not germinated at nearly the rate I would have expected. The scallions never really showed up at all. We lost a couple of Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cabbage that were doing fine one day and splat the next day.
Two varieties of asparagus came up and are doing well. The third had only 5 crowns pop up for no obvious reason. Maybe it was the variety and not me?
We lost 1 pepper and 3 tomatillos to the cold and wet. The last remaining tomatillo seems to be taking off, but the peppers are still pretty dang pathetic looking. I’m seriously considering pulling them out to make way for some winter veggies I need to find room for.
There are other myriad little things here and there that aren’t going as well as I’d like. But they’re more than made up for by the verdant greenery that is most of the garden. And hey, it’s the first year so we’re considering everything we grow to be a bonus!
I always learn the most from the things that don’t work… And the things that do? So much sweeter.
Ah yes… the brash sting of failures… How know thee… LOL
You’ll die when you here this, but I cannot (to date anyway…this is the year!!) grow a pumpkin. What’s up with that? Isn’t that gardening 101? Well L~ the upside is that if you haven’t ever grown tomatillos you will find tha they are prolific once they start to produce. (also, if you let the long main stems lay on the ground, they will propogate themselves quickly into new plants which will produce more.
Glad to know your human.
P~
We’ve had a few of those setbacks, too, with stuff about to be pulled up here. It’s all still such a learning experience that I’m just happy to get anything!
About that tomatillo - if you only have one, you might need to scrap it. They are not self-fertile. We had only one last year and it was huge and beautiful with a million blossoms but not a single fruit.
In light of your previous post, I would say you’re doing pretty darn well overall. I share your basil troubles and have never figured out why. It’s as though slugs mow down the seedlings, them I transplant the survivors and they seem shellshocked for longer than they ought. Maybe it’s a soil problem? A moisture problem? I don’t know. It seems all the worse because it’s basil, which makes everything from the garden taste that much better. I started some Thai basil from seed this year in addition to our Genovese and the Thai plants are doing wonderfully.
For us, it’s beets — they seem to be very weird germinators; some will come up right away, and then nothing for weeks (seriously) and then suddenly we’ll have several more. What is that about?
I have had what I feel like is a lot of cole crop seedlings (broc, kale, B.sprouts mostly) go dead on me, too, but we are starting everything in soil blocks now, so all that’s lost is a bit of time; we just mix the dirt back up again when it’s time for more. None of the teenage and up plants have flopped over ded. (Yet. *knocks on wood*)
Bummer! You know, I’m starting to think that the northwest is not a great place for tomatillos and peppers - not quite hot enough, and the weather is not quite consistent enough.
Carrots - I have planted a million different carrots at this point, and I think it has to do with several things: 1. they’re picky about what soil they’re in. I put the same seeds in different places and they’ll grow beautifully in one place and hardly grow in the other. 2. they’re picky about heat. They don’t like to come up when it’s too hot. 3. the varieties have wildly different germination rates. White and light-colored ones are not as good, orange are better, purple seem to do consistently best (though they’re always eaten fastest cuz they’re so darn good!).
And you know, I kill my basil too. I don’t know what happens. They’ll be doing great, and then one day they all die. Again, though, I think it has to do with inconsistency in the weather. That’s what probably happened to your lettuce, too. Try putting a shade cloth over them & just leaving it there all summer. My lettuce survived through the hot 110 degree Geyserville heat that way!
I don’t think it liked my 2nd comment. Probably because there were two links. Let’s try again….
Come see the new blog & let me know what you think! Lots of NW resources, too…. (I’ve linked to it with my name above.)
And there you’ll find the new Growing Challenge link, too!!
Laura, thanks for this little gift. You just made my day, as I was getting discouraged and taking my garden mishaps personally. (Oh, the failure!) This is going to happen, isn’t it? And that’s okay!
Derek | I completely agree.
P~ | Glad to know I’m not the only one with a nemesis in the garden!
Denise | Good to know that you’re human too, makes me feel better that I’m not the only one struggling. Bummer about the tomatillo, I might wait a bit though as I don’t need the space quite yet.
Audrey | I know! I can’t figure out what goes wrong with basil. But it never does well for me. Glad to hear your Thai basil is thriving.
Lauren | I’ve no idea for your beets, can’t stand them myself
My cole crops seem to be thriving now - I lost them when they were pretty tiny and just transplanted. Maybe I’ll try soil blocks next year.
Melinda | The lettuce seems to be going strong now - but thanks for the idea! And thanks for the ideas on carrots. I’m off to check out your new site now.
Peg | It is going to happen and of course it’s okay!